The FINANCIAL -- The construction of a new wastewater treatment plant has been launched in the city Brest in Belarus.

This project is part of a NIB-co-financed investment programme of improving wastewater treatment in the country.

Brest, a city of 340,000 people in western Belarus, is located in the catchment area of the Baltic Sea and its effluent has a significant direct impact on the marine environment. The project will help the city to achieve the wastewater treatment efficiency and nutrient removal to a level compliant with the recommendations issued by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission HELCOM, according to NIB.

The EUR 25 million loan for improvements in wastewater treatment in the cities of Brest and Grodno was signed by the Bank and the Republic of Belarus in December 2012. The environmental projects in Belarus have also received a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and grant financing from the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership and the governments of Finland and Sweden.